LA Tonight
- Thread starter BleedDodgerBlue
- Start date
A bit surreal is the best way to answer it. If you grew up in LA or they were a big part of your life than it was to me at least a surreal and amazing experience. I saw them once the original 5. I saw them a few times with whatever side show Axl was touring with in the last decade. But, I've never appreciated it more than now. Most people who grew up with them are now 40 ish so it's a bit of a weird vibe. The arena had a weird vibe of super fans, good fans, and people that I wondered what the fuck they were doing there, but that's to be expected in Vegas. I was supposed to go to both shows, but in the end just ended up going on Friday as I had to do something Saturday and will see them twice more this summer in stadiums. To me at least they've always been a better real intimate band like the Trubadour or Whiskey, or a huge stadium like the football tour venues they're doing this summer. Something about indoor basketball arenas are just okay for them. The acoustics were good and the sound was clean and loud. A couple reverb problems, but nothing major.
Having Axl sit the entire show was weird. I didn't pay attention to twitter or read much in the days leading to the show so I had no idea he broke his foot at the Troubador. He was in this like Game of Thrones guitar throne with lights everywhere and his leg elevated. He's such and ego maniac I'd be surprised if he didn't try to get away with doing this forever. It was the whole look at how cool I am sitting here rocking thing or something to that effect. I've never seen a singer sit the whole show, so I don't have much of a comparison. I know it's Dave Grhol's from foo fighters and he did the same thing and let him use it which I found a bit strange since them and Nirvana have a terrible history, but maybe time does heal all wounds or maybe it was just that asshole Kurt Kobain that Axl hated. Anyway, it was weird and definitely not ideal, but if they canceled the shows the whole tour would have blown up I'm pretty sure.
The band- Amazing. Never a tighter group of musicians. Just amazing amazing musician ship. Slash may not be the best guitarist in the world. But what's the measuring device? His sound is so perfect for their catalog and his solos so sharp and soulful, even without Axl and just the band performing would be worth the price of admission. Duff- Probably not a cooler person on the planet. The guy oozes cool. Not stuck up cool, but you watch him on stage and think to yourself how is it possible for a guy to be this fucking cool? His stage presence is unreal. He's also a huge fantasy baseball nut which is a dumb tidbit since this is a sports board. Fortus was great. Izzy isn't coming and he's been with whatever reincarnation of the band longer than almost anyone so he was just fine. Frank gets a really bad wrap on all the message boards. I think a lot of that has to do with racism if I'm being perfectly honest. He sounded just fine to me. Maybe technical drummers could spot errors or something, but I thought he was great. He was kind of hidden behind the throne or whatever it was, but he was rocking. The new girl didn't do much, but she's eye candy anyway.
The stage- Not the biggest ever, but the huge video screen and couple other screens were really well done. The graphics were unreal and amazing throughout. If you dropped acid, these are the images you'd want to see all day. Really, really cool artwork and graphics.
The music- Great set list. My favorite song ever by them is Coma and they haven't played it in 20 + years with any incarnation of the band. The song itself can only really be sung correctly by about three people in the world, especially the ending. Most mortals would be beyond winded attempting it. But Axl sang it well. Not 1990 well, but good enough. The Slash guitar solo during it was the highlight of my trip. He just slayed it. I personally prefer night train as an opener but they went with it's so easy which isn't my favorite. Jungle might be my least favorite song by them, but I think that's even a better opener. Anyway, the set list had a lot to offer everyone from all their years including some of the new stuff.
The crowd- Pretty lame for the floor section from what I can tell. I was off a bit to the right and not on the floor, but my nose wasn't bleeding either. The pit looked pretty lame, but again that has to do with age and some of who were these people in Vegas.
Music is subjective and haters are gonna hate. To me, GNR has shaped my life. I can't think of many memories of back in the day that they aren't the soundtrack too. They're bigger and better than the Beatles, Stones, or any other band that most people claim. Again, that's my opinion and part of the beauty of music. If you didn't grow up in LA or were involved in that scene at that time, then maybe you wouldn't understand, but they are a bigger part of me than anything outside my family. It was just amazing to see something I thought would never happen. There'll be haters and probably some things I wasn't overly critical of because I was just happy to be there. But it is what it is. It exceeded every expectation I had. Axl lost a lot of the rasp with age, but he sounded as good as he has in years. Not 30 years ago Axl, but you can tell he's putting everything he has into this. Good on him.
Sorry I missed this on the 2nd night, but man if this doesn't put a tear in your eye, you just don't understand rock music or maybe you're from Canada or something. Slash, Duff, and Axl together again. Amazing:
Thanks BDB !
I'm in for one show already, SLASH ROCKS ! :00hour I for one would have loved to see Steven back behind the kit. I don't look to get back the experience of the 90's show. I thought they even sounded good with the fill ins when they 1st started touring again. Almost all anybody wanted to see was Axl and Slash on the same stage again anyway.
Saw them in 1987 at Super Skate in Waterloo which was a roller skating rink when they backed up The Cult. My buddy was the promoter who did the shows for U of W. Best part of the day was watching the sound check in the afternoon. Axl was skateboarding around while drinking a bottle of Jack and Ian walking around wasted with a coonskin cap on. I did two hits of purple microdot that night, it was a crazy night.
Good times!
Good times!
I'm a little over two weeks and still pretty excited for it. Gonna get tore up drunk like it's 1993 all over again.
Well????? Not many vids up yet on youtube. Floyd guitar solo looked pretty cool.
thread saver
BDB, Hear anything about a 2nd leg of the tour ? Had to cancel my plans for AT&T stadium.
Like to see another show while Axl's meds are working. :lol:
Never saw him so happy at a show before as he was in KC. He's really enjoying this tour. :Yep:
Like to see another show while Axl's meds are working. :lol:
Never saw him so happy at a show before as he was in KC. He's really enjoying this tour. :Yep:
No. Gonna do LA and maybe San Diego myself. Was gonna do Washington DC but couldn't. Sad I missed Chicago as well. They're doing well despite journalists with an agenda. They're getting 40k plus in stadiums these days. Not many bands can do that. I'm sure they'll tour this leg. Put some kind of album or greatest hits with a few new songs and tour again. The money they're making is unreal.
For me it was amazing. I knew what to expect going in and I got every bit of that and then some. The setlist was great, I'm one of the few that actually like the "Chinese Democracy" album and they played "Chinese Democracy", "This I Love" and "Better".
Duff did "Raw Power" which I thought was awesome. Slash and Fortus did a great job on the "Wish You Were Here" guitar duo.
All the favorites were played and it was a solid 3 hour set. You really can't ask for too much more than that.
I tend to fall down this rabbit hole every time I see a live act, but you really have to see Slash play live to appreciate how good he is. The man has talent that the rest of us just can't learn in a lifetime. Slash just killed it all night on every song. "The Godfather" theme leading into "Sweet Child o Mine" is fantastic.
Fortus on the other guitar was much better than I expected, Duff still kills it and Frank Ferrer is very serviceable on the drum kit. Axl was, well, Axl. It's just too hard to copy that voice and I'd say it's stood up well over the years for sure.
It wasn't 1993, but it was everything you could hope for and then some.
Duff did "Raw Power" which I thought was awesome. Slash and Fortus did a great job on the "Wish You Were Here" guitar duo.
All the favorites were played and it was a solid 3 hour set. You really can't ask for too much more than that.
I tend to fall down this rabbit hole every time I see a live act, but you really have to see Slash play live to appreciate how good he is. The man has talent that the rest of us just can't learn in a lifetime. Slash just killed it all night on every song. "The Godfather" theme leading into "Sweet Child o Mine" is fantastic.
Fortus on the other guitar was much better than I expected, Duff still kills it and Frank Ferrer is very serviceable on the drum kit. Axl was, well, Axl. It's just too hard to copy that voice and I'd say it's stood up well over the years for sure.
It wasn't 1993, but it was everything you could hope for and then some.
SOUTH AMERICA TOUR after San Diego going to have to make one more show somewhere.
